Ferrari Duo Evans, Schutte Close on Title at The Bend

Arise Racing GT Ferrari duo Jaxon Evans and Elliott Schutte took another step towards this year’s GT World Challenge Australia powered by AWS title with a pair of podium finishes in last weekend’s penultimate round at The Bend Motorsport Park.

Evans and Schutte went to the South Australia venue with a 30-point lead over their nearest rivals, Brad Schumacher and Broc Feeney, and maintained that advantage as both crews ended with a second place and a third apiece over the two races.

It means that the occupants of the No. 26 Ferrari 296 GT3 need to score only 21 points in the Hampton Downs season finale to be assured of this year’s title, even if the No. 888 Melbourne Performance Centre Audi took maximum points.

Splitting the wins at The Bend were the Team BRM Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II of Mark Rosser and Alex Peroni, who triumphed on Saturday, and the Tigani Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of Jayden Ojeda and Paul Lucchitti, who won Sunday’s finale.

Pole for Saturday’s opener was taken by the Volante Rosso Motorsport Aston Martin Vantage GT3 of Liam Talbot, who led the opening phase of the race before suffering an off at the 15-minute mark, spinning and brushing the barriers.

That handed the initiative to Rosser’s BRM Audi, which led until the mandatory stops, at which point Peroni took over and eased to a 13-second victory.

Schumacher had run second in the opening stint aboard the Kelso Electrical-backed MPC Audi, but the Arise Racing Ferrari started by Schutte got the jump during the stops, with Evans successfully defending from Feeney until the checkered flag.

Talbot was able to resume in fourth, but a long stop dropped the Aston he shares with Jamie Day down to eighth at the finish.

Sunday’s finale was controlled throughout by the No. 66 Tigani Motorsport Mercedes-AMG, which started up front in the hands of Ojeda and ultimately claimed a first win of the year with Lucchitti holding off Schumacher by less than a second at the flag.

That was after Schumacher passed title rival Schutte to grab the runner-up spot at Turn 1 on the final lap of the race, in a small boost to he and Feeney’s slim title hopes.

The BRM Audi that won on Saturday dropped out of the running when third-placed Peroni became stranded on-track due to electrical issues, bringing out the safety car at half-distance after all cars had completed their mandatory stops.

Renee Gracie claimed the Am class title with a race to spare at the wheel of her OnlyFans-backed MPC Audi, rebounding from an off in Saturday’s first race by scoring class victory on Sunday, putting the championship beyond the reach of her rivals.

The GTWC Australia season will conclude with the final round of the season at Hampton Downs in New Zealand on Oct. 31-Nov. 2.

RESULTS: Race 1/Race 2